Abstract

Genetic variation among hosts for resistance to parasites is an important assumption underlying evolutionary theory of host and parasite evolution. Using the castrating bacterial parasite Pasteuria ramosa and its cladoceran host Daphnia magna, we examined both within– and between–population genetic variation for resistance. First, we tested hosts from four populations for genetic variation for resistance to three parasite isolates. Allozyme analysis revealed significant host population divergence and that genetic distance corresponds to geographic distance. Host and parasite fitness components showed strong genetic differences between parasite isolates for host population by parasite interactions and for clones within populations, whereas host population effects were significant for only a few traits. In a second experiment we tested explicitly for within–population differences in variation for resistance by challenging nine host clones from a single population with four different parasite spore doses. Strong clone and dose effects were evident. More susceptible clones also suffered higher costs once infected. The results indicate that within–population variation for resistance is high relative to between–population variation. We speculate that P. ramosa adapts to individual host clones rather than to its host population.